Welding

Well, I finally got of my "booty" and fired this dog up. The first couple of pops where a little "skwuuuuuurly" but after about 20 beads at 3" long I sorta got the hang of it. You can definately tell a difference in the appearance.
After another 3-4 hours of welding I'd feel capable to weld anything that 1/8 material. All that thinner stuff will take more control setting adjustments and such adn me getting use to it.
But all you out there that were scared to get into it, LIKE ME, it aint nowhere near as bad as you would think.
I know I got some mo luuuuuurnin to do but hey, its a start.
Thanks for everyones help on the welding info. Im sure I'll be asking for more in the future!!!!

In search for the sound of frying bacon!!
3/4 in progress
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What kind of set up do you have? Welding is an art, and I am new to it also. I got an oxy/act set up for cuttin, and I have a Tig for most everything else. It sure is fun, and the imagination takes over. I have just finished welding on fender lips to my newly MORE cutout fenders. Looks pretty good, had to grind the welds down, then use fusor to make sure of good seal and form lip. Hope to finish tomorrow. Paid 200 for oxy/act and 300 for tig, but worth it. Heres to great American steel and things we can do wiht it.

Its a 220 Mig. The wire feeder wheel is a little worn out, but for free. IT ROCKS!!! Tonight was the first time I have welded. And I welded 2 pieces of angle iron together to make a piece of box tubing, just for practice adn it looks "OK" so I proceeded to beat the sh** out of it with a sledge hammer adn it didn't break so Im feeling a little more confident!!

In search for the sound of frying bacon!!
3/4 in progress
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Welding is fun. I have read some books about welding in the past but the way I learned is practice. I think a mig is the best all around welder to have, a tig is nice too but I prefer to mig weld. I have been welding for about 8 years.

I persoanlly would love to learn. been meaning to take a course or two ate the Community College on it. I'd love to actaull y be good enough to weld in my own body panels... that would be worth it's weight in gold here in the salt belt LOL

I got a little 110v mig box a few months ago and couldn't be happier. My father is a weldor, so I've been around weldors all of my life, but strangely never really learned to weld aside from playing around. Since I bought the mig I've welded up tailpans for both of my blazers, and just this last weekend built a big, honkin' barbecue pit from an old 55 gal. drum. The welds could be prettier, but like you said, with practice that'll come.

well well well looks like your one step ahead of me!! Now we can't let that happen!! I guess this means I'm gonna have to fire up the old Buzz box and burn some rod!!! I only have about 30min worth of experiance. poppin and spitin and crackin and burning!!!
Got ta love it!!

I hear ya I have sooooo much welding I need done!! and now with my 35s commin my rear swing out carrier will only fit a 1/2worn out 33 so I am now in need of a custom rear carrier!!
My wife's cosin is a stanless welder by trade and can run VERY sweet beads on ANY kinda metal!! He has promised me some of his time but we are all soooooo busy it's tuff to getum over there. He likes Mikey's BigMouth so I probly should buy a case of the stuff and call him up!!

just make sure on the structural stuff, you're getting plenty of penetration. Just bridging across isn't sound, you need to make sure your weld is burned in to the very inside corner of the weld. Practice, practice, practice. And gun angle, gun angle, gun angle. Take a class if you get a chance. I've been welding for about 10 years on my own stuff and summers at the family company. Took my first class this year, and learned a LOT. I'm about to test for solid core mig structural and solid core mig sheetmetal. Lemme tell you that struct test is TOUGH!

LOL!!! I think most of us beginners have a problem with getting too much penetration. I burned through a 1/8 material couple of times. I'd say thats some penetration. But I did start from edge of the material to the other side of the material so I could get a side view and it looks like the weld is about 3/4 way into the material on most of them. Trustyk5 is giving me pointers to get me in the right direction at least. Im just trying to get my damn digital camera to take a clear enough piture to send to him for review! Damn 100 cameras suck for detail.

weld you up some fillets (metal at a 90 degree intersection) and then take a band saw or chop saw and cut the angles in half. Then you can see in the middle if you're really getting penetration down into the corners. The beginning and end weld wont tell you the whole truth!

Blew through huh? hahaha. Well one thing you will find is when you start cold that it takes a higher amperage to get penetration. Once hot you can turn the welder down a little so you don't blow through as easily. You will really notice this in the winter. Not as bad in the summer. It's not quite as bad with a mig but boy you sure keep it in mind with a stick.

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